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Saturday, June 11, 2016

Y&R Report (June 11, 3016): The Latest on The Young and the Restless


  


Hey Y&R fans, every second Saturday TV Banter discusses the latest happenings and provides commentary on your favourite daytime drama. Note to U.S. readers - SPOILER ALERT: Here in Canada, I watch the show on Global TV which is one episode ahead of CBS.  I will inevitably refer to incidents you haven't seen yet. Read at your own risk.  If you are the curious type, though, you may prefer to discover some things in advance.


The characters on Y&R make terrible decisions and ghastly errors.  Yet, if they did not have bad judgment, they would not make any mistakes.  If they did not make any mistakes, there would not be any conflicts or storyines.  Take Billy and Victoria, for instance (Or should I say, take Billy and Victoria . . . please!).  Those two keep looking for love in all the wrong places - Billy, with his sister-in-law, the fiery Phyllis, and Victoria with Travis, a former Wall Street mogul turned bar owner.

Speaking of Travis, it will be interesting to find out why he had to leave Wall Street to run a dingy bar in Genoa City.  Why is he in such dire financial straits?  Now that he knows that "Tori" is really the wealthy Victoria Newman, he's sure going to try to take advantage of the connection.  Now that Victoria knows that Travis has some secrets of his own, will she still want to dance with him in that dank bar?  One thing's for sure.  She's going to pay the price for thinking that a virtual stranger would never deceive her or conceal things from her the way Billy did.

Luca Santori is just waiting in the wings to make his power play for Newman Enterprises. He's getting ready to pounce and he has Supergirl Summer by his side.  What more could a man want?  Ah, but there's one huge fly in the ointment for SeƱor Santori.  Daddy Nick and Mommy Phyllis don't want the power-hungry Spaniard anywhere near their beloved daughter.  That's why Phyllis has devised a plan by which they kill him with kindness and let him think they've accepted him.  Will it work?  Will they catch him off guard?  Here's what I think will happen.  Santori will come very close to sitting at the Great Victor Newman's desk,  He may even wrest the company from Victoria for a while (I can imagine him sitting in Victor's chair, impeccably dressed, not a hair out of place).  Adam, despite having promised Chelsea that he will stay away from Newman Enterprises, won't be able to let Luca to run the show.  He'll step in and push Luca aside.  In the end, naturally, Victor will wind up sitting at his desk again and that infernal portrait of him will continue to hang on the wall.

Here is what I think about Victor Newman's relationship with the foolhardy and unprofessional Dr. Meredith Gates: Ugh!  Yuck!  That says it all folks.  Speaking of the nefarious Newman, it looks as if he's headed for solitary confinement - no visits and no infirmary privileges (or shall we say hank-panky).

What is going on with Hilary's character?  The writers have turned her into a kind of female Victor Newman.  She's begun such a villain.  She was originally quite aggressive and confident, but now she's become outright ruthless.  She's willing to endanger the lives of those using Dr. Neville's drug therapy by putting in on the market too early.  In a confusing plotline, the mystery surrounding the death of Constance has been tied to the sucide of the lab technician at Dr. Neville research project and to Hilary.



BREAKING NEWS . . . Y&R Executive Producer Jill Farren Phelps has been fired.


There's been a big shakeup at The Young and the Restless.  Daytime Confidential reported that executive producer Jill Farren Phelps has been fired.  On Tuesday, June 7, CBS confirmed that she has been let go.  That means, of course,that there will be changes to the show.  According to TV Line, Mal Young will be replacing the controversial Phelps.  Young joined Y&R earlier this year as supervising producer.  He is British and is the former executive producer of the very popular British soap EastEnders.


Jill Farren Phelps

Mal Young


VIEWER FORUM

If you have any comments on Y&R, please email them to me with "Viewer Forum in the subject line. I will be happy to publish your comments and reply to them  You do not have to use your real name.  
My email address:  jmadden16@yahoo.ca

Regular contributor CC in Etobicoke, Ontario has sent me an email expressing her opinions on the firing of Jill Farren Phelps and Chrishell Stause, the actress who plays Bethany.


Finally!!!!  I hope this (the firing of Phelps) helps improve things.  Too much parachuting in of new characters if only to detract from the true culprits or get the leading characters off the hook (eg. the lab tech who ends up dead, Brittany? er . . . Bethany? - Billy's pawn to force Phyllis' hand. This one is some kind of nepotism, maybe even a clause in Justin Hartley's contract (She's his girlfriend in real life).  Bethany (Chrishell) is not that spectacular looking, not all that talented, but she seems to have dumbness down to an art.

Well, CC, you are obviously not a fan of Jill Farren Phelps, nor do you have high regard for Chrishell Stause (to put it mildly).  We all know that Phelps would not win any popularity contests.  Many soap fans detest her.  She been reviled as a "slayer of soaps" due to her reputation for firing fan favourites and her penchant for messing with storylines.  Many Y&R viewers have still not gotten over the loss of Billy Miller (ex-Billy Abbott) and Michelle Stafford (ex-Phyllis), despite the fact that neither one was fired.  They both chose to leave.  Stafford felt that it was time for her to become involved in new projects.  As for Billy Miller, I don't think enough effort was made to accommodate him.  He probably could have been persuaded to stay.  For that grievous error, I believe Phelps bears some responsibility.  I also believe she bears some responsibility for some of the convoluted plotlines, such as the "Two Jacks" disaster.

To be clear, I definitely agree that it was time for Jill Farren Phelps to go.  I am certainly not a fan of JFP.  Her departure was long overdue and I am pleased that changes are coming.  However, to be fair. Phelps is an Emmy winner and she isn't to blame for all that ails the show.  Looking ahead, there will be a period of uncertainty for Y&R.  There are still several unanswered questions.  For example, what about head writer and co-executive producer Charles Pratt? Will he remain with the show or is he destined for the same fate as Jill Farren Phelps?  Will Mal Young be successful as Phelps' replacement?  How will the cast respond to the changes?

I doubt that Chrishell Strause will win any Daytime Emmys for her role as Bethany.  She does appear to be playing the role of a bimbo.  Billy actually described her as one to Phyllis.  He said that his "supposed girlfriend's mouth doesn't bypass her brain.  She doesn't have a filter."  Jack, on the other hand, told Phyllis that Bethany may be a smart operator by allowing Billy to chase her and playing hard to get.  However, Jack doesn't realize yet that her relationship with Billy Boy is just a charade. Nevertheless, Bethany could turn out to be smarter than we think.  Only time and the writers will tell the story.

I have to admit that I fell for the teaser that Phyllis was going to tell Jack herself about her involvement with Billy. I should have known better.  I should have known that she wouldn't be able to go through with it.  It appears that Brittany may be the one to spill the beans to Jack.  After all, she thinks that he has already been told the truth.



                                                                                                                                     
CAST NEWS


Elizabeth Hendrickson to return as Chloe





Daytime Confidential has reported that Elizabeth Hendrickson will return to her role as Chloe Mitchell.  Her fans will be delighted to know that, according to the report, she is set to make a full-time return with "a big storyline."

Elizabeth began her career on daytime television in 2001 as twins Maggie and Frankie on All My Children. She joined the cast of The Young and the Restless in 2008.  She left Y&R in 2014, returning for some brief appearances.in October of 2015.

I am not a big fan of the Chloe character.  However, her return to Genoa City is bound to ruffle a lot of feathers.  It will also create intriguing storyline possibilities.  Will she still be unbalanced?  What about the paternity of her child (Billy or Kevin)?  Her re-appearance in Genoa City is guaranteed to create shockwaves.  It will be a source of tension for many GC residents, including Phyllis, Adam, Billy and Mariah.



Hunter King (Summer Newman) scaled back to recurring role on Y&R due to prime time series promotion


   
Hunter King (Summer) has received some good news, but it's bad news for her Y&R fans.   For the coming fall season, Hunter has been promoted to a regular on the 30-minute CBS sitcom Life in Pieces.  As a result, she will not be able to put in as much airtime on The Young and the Restless. Her role as Summer Newman has been downgraded to recurring status.  That means we will be seeing less of our favourite "Snowflake" on Y&R.   Her fans, however, can see more of her on Life in Pieces.

There has been speculation online that Hunter King will leave Y&R because she will not be able to put in the time that her role requires.


Michael E. Knight (Dr. Simon Neville) may be leaving Y&R



TV Guide has reported that Michael E. Knight (Dr. Simon Neville) has been let go from The Young and the Restless.  This hasn't been confirmed yet and I really hope it's not true.  His character should be given more of a chance to catch on.  A romance between him and Ashley Abbott has not even begun to blossom yet. Letting Knight go so soon would be a mistake.  It's far too premature to make such a move.  




Y&R REPORT READERS' POLL



Are you pleased that Elizabeth Hendrickson (Chloe) is returning to Y&R?

Yes, she's a good actor and I like her.
Not really, but her return will be good for storyline purposes.
Absolutely not. I'm not a fan of hers.
It doesn't really make much difference to me.
Don't know
Other
Please Specify:
survey creator


That's all for now.  The next edition of Y&R Report will appear in this space on Saturday, June 25, 2016.


- Joanne


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